Deck lids or trunks are conventionally pivotally mounted to vehicle bodies using a pair of hinge assemblies each of which has a cylindrical pivot pin aligned along a horizontal coaxial axis. Each of these hinge assemblies also includes a mounting plate, which is mountable to a back shelf of a vehicle body, a pair of spaced flanges which are attached to the mounting plate and which support a hinge pin therebetween, and an elongate strap. Each elongate strap is connected between a hinge pin and the deck lid so that the deck lid may pivot vertically about the horizontal coaxial axis.
A deck lid may be attached to a vehicle body in a couple of different ways. First, the hinge assemblies, including straps, may be bolted or welded to the back shelf of the vehicle body. Then, a deck lid is placed adjacent each of the straps of the hinge assemblies and the straps are affixed to the deck lid.
Alternatively, the pair of the hinge assemblies may be first attached to the deck lid. Then, the mounting plates of the hinge assemblies are affixed to the back shelf of the vehicle body.
Use of hinge assemblies, as described above, to join a deck lid to a vehicle body has several shortcomings. First, "torque problems" may exist due to misalignment between the straps and the deck lid during their attachment. For example, there is the case where the hinge assemblies are affixed to the vehicle body prior to being joined to the deck lid. If planar mating surfaces on the deck lid and the straps are not perfectly flush and aligned, bolting and twisting of these surfaces flush together will cause deformation and torque to be created across the deck lid and the strap.
If this torque is sufficient, undesirable distortion or bow may be formed on the skin of the deck lid. Also, the torque created in a strap is transferred to the respective hinge pin of the hinge assembly and the back shelf of the vehicle body. Forces are transferred across spaced apart bolted or welded connections between the mounting plate and the back shelf due to the torque applied from the strap. To keep these forces small relative to the torque applied, large moment arms are required between the bolted or welded connections. Accordingly, the mounting plates must be sized to keep the moment arms large and the forces small.
Alternatively, there is the case where each of the straps is secured to the deck lid prior to the attachment of the mounting plates to the back shelf. Here, the straps and the rest of the hinge assemblies may be freely rotated during attachment to the deck lid. During mounting of the hinge assembly to the vehicle body, rotation or twisting of the hinge assembly may be necessary if the mounting plate is not flushly aligned with the back shelf of the vehicle body. Consequently, torque must be applied to the mounting plates to place the mounting plate in position for welding or else for the tightening of bolted connections. Again, this results in a torque developing across the mounting plate, the hinge pins, the back shelf, the straps and the deck lid.
Accordingly, as torque is transferred across the hinge pins, the hinge pins are subject to wear when they rotate relative their supports. Also, the necessity of applying torque to components during the mounting of a deck lid to a vehicle body increases the difficulty of completing this task.
Another problem associated with using the aforementioned hinge assemblies with hinge pins is that straps are not readily vertically adjustable relative to their mounting plates. When the deck lid is in a closed position, the edges of the deck lid should be even in height with the adjacent edges and surfaces on the vehicle body to form a smooth, aesthetically pleasing continuous surface on the vehicle. Mismatches in height may result from manufacturing defects or from tolerance build-ups in the assembly of the deck lid, hinge box, strap, and vehicle body.
One method of remedying this height mismatch is to place a piece of wood over the deck lid and pound the piece of wood with a hammer to deform the supporting strap and deck lid sufficiently such that the height mismatches are reduced.
The present invention addresses the aforementioned shortcomings associated with mounting deck lids to vehicle bodies using conventional hinge assemblies with hinge pins.